
Ertl EstANS.
2.
God is one, not in person, but in character, in purpose,
in Spirit. The grace and peace are equally from our Father
and our Elder Brother.
3.
He has blessed us in accordance with His choosing. He
chose us that we might be holy and without blame—both
negatively and positively good. He has blessed sufficient to
make us all He has chosen us to be. Note also that these are
present blessings.
4.
To predestine, or foreordain, means to mark out, to
define or determine beforehand. God has the one standard
character of holiness, the one ever all-glorious example, His
Son Christ Jesus, reflecting always all the fulness of the light
of His righteousness. God also in the beginning chose char-
acters for His heritage, each character righteous in the right-
eousness of God, yet having its own individuality, manifesting
one or more of the many beauties of Him in whom all fulness
dwells, even as each color in the rainbow reveals some of the
special beauties of the light. God chose these characters
before the foundation of the world. The names of those char-
acters were written in the Lamb's book of life. Rev. 13:8.
He has called, and is calling to those characters, and His
blessing is sufficient for every soul -to meet the call and attain
the character to which he is called.
5.
Every work is to the praise or dispraise of its maker.
God's work among sinners will be, when finished, to the praise
of the glory of His grace. It is by grace, His unmerited
favor, freely shed on us, that the work is wrought. This is
preeminently an epistle of grace and glory. Twelve times is
the grace bestowed mentioned,—"the glory of His grace," "the
riches of His grace," "the exceeding riches of His grace;"
and eight times does it speak of His "glory" to us-ward.
6.
"According to." Oh, what a message of hope is this to
the sinner ! Not according to our deserts does God forgive,
else would we never hope again. Not according to our con-
ception, not according to any measure man can conceive, but
Nine-tenths of the women of India never heard of a Saviour.